Cardiac Alert program improves heart attack care in East Valley
MESA, Ariz. (May 17, 2010) -- A partnership between local Emergency Medical Services, Banner Heart Hospital and Banner Baywood Medical Center is now drastically reducing the crucial time from when patients who suffer heart attacks arrive in the Emergency department and are treated.
East Valley residents are receiving emergency treatment at rates much faster than in many previous years, due to Banner Heart’s Cardiac Alert program.
“Cardiac Alert helps us offer our patients a superior level and speed of care, because our EMS partners are able to assess when their patients are having heart attacks in the field and alert our specialized care units to prepare when they’re on the way,” says Laura Robertson, chief executive officer of Banner Heart Hospital.
Here’s how Cardiac Alert works: East Valley EMS responders reach a patient quickly when 911 is called. Banner Heart physicians train ambulance teams to rapidly identify a heart attack using an electrocardiogram test, and responders immediately start treatment in the field.
Ambulance teams alert Banner Baywood’s Emergency department and Banner Heart’s cardiac team to prepare for rapid treatment.
The patient is transported to the Baywood’s Emergency department for initial evaluation and then quickly moved to a Heart Hospital Catheterization Laboratory, where a cardiologist opens the patient’s blocked artery.
“We often gain about 30 to 40 minutes in treating cardiac arrest patients this way,” says Mark Starling, MD, chief medical officer for Banner Heart Hospital.
Banner’s EMS partners for the program include Mesa, Apache Junction, Gilbert and Queen Creek. Apache Junction has been calling the Cardiac Alert from the field from the inception of the program because of the availability of the 12-lead electrocardiogram tools on their rigs. Mesa recently began doing so because of their acquisition of the 12-lead electrocardiogram tools and their rapid demonstration of mastery interpreting them for heart attacks.
This year to date, 83 percent of all emergency cardiac cases at Banner Heart Hospital and Banner Baywood Medical Center exceeded or met the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology gold standards. The average time from a patient entering the Baywood Emergency Department door to an open artery procedure at Banner Heart’s cath labs has averaged about 50 minutes, well below the 90 minute national expectation, while the average time from the EMS call in the field to an open artery procedure has averaged 70 minutes.
“This shows East Valley patients can get their heart attack managed faster from home simply by calling 911,” Starling says.
Banner Heart created the program in 2008, basing its model on other highly successful programs across the nation.
For information, contact Corey Schubert at (480) 321-4978 or e-mail.
